Workshop on "Learning Management System-BrainHoney" will be held from 25^th of August to 27^th of August in Colombo. This is a joint effort by University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC) and Telecentre.org Foundation. This is initiated with the objective of providing training on Learning Management System (LMS)-BrainHoney for Program managers, future Facilitators, and authors of global courses on all aspects of Telecenters who part of Telecentre.org Academies and Universities from Asian countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, India, and Philippines. BrainHoney is the LMS which is selected by Telecentre.org Academy to host its global curriculum.

 

The main objectives of this training session include

• Provide training on functionality, administration and testing of BrainHoney and testing the multilingual feature of BrainHoney by translating its interfaces in to different languages (Initially interfaces and courses will be translated and offered in Filipino, Hindi, Malay, Portuguese, Spanish, Sinhala, Tamil, Thai).
• Create a framework for localizing the content of global curriculum
• Sharing knowledge and experience of experts in E-Learning 

 

Additionally this workshop will include a short visit to a Nanesala to study its environment, processes and share experience with its workers.

UCSC will provide training for the participants and prepare training materials required for training sessions. UCSC will also create an online course module on E- Learning. The accommodations and workshop facilities will be organized by UCSC. Furthermore UCSC will coordinate the local participants for the workshop including distinguished guests, resource persons and trainers. 

 

Background to Project

Theekshana, which had been set up by University of Colombo School of Computing  (UCSC) to handle its International and Local donor funded consultancies signed an agreement with Telecentre.org Foundation to host and maintain  eLearning Platform of Global Telecentre.org Academy on 3rd of June, 2010. Prof. Gihan Wikramanayake Director UCSC signed the agreement on behalf of Theekshana and Dr. Basheerhamad Shadrach  , Executive Director signed on behalf of Telecentre.org Foundation.

Originally launched at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis in 2005, as a program of IDRC, telecentre.org was instrumental in creating telecentre networks in about 70 nations with more than 15 of them now functioning as vibrant and dynamic networks that impact the way information, services and opportunities are offered to remote populace and the marginalized sections of the society. Investments during the last five years also resulted in evolving a strong knowledge sharing program that encourages peer to peer learning among all telecentre stakeholders; building a robust system in partnership with 14 distance and open learning Universities of repute worldwide to support building capacity among one million telecentre operators; and conducting various experiments for developing appropriate content and services affordable to all, especially the ultra-poor living in remote areas.

In its second phase, telecentre.org managed by the telecentre.org Foundation which operates from Philippines has assumed the role of an activist, advocating for sustainable telecentres as means to empower societies around the world. Telecentre.org 2.0 aims to build a more resilient telecentre ecosystem globally, thus scaling-up the movement rapidly in nations that most need them.  To fulfil its mandate, the Foundation will undertake the following activities:

1.    telecentre.org Academy — Providing telecentre managers, network leaders and the policy-makers with ongoing training, capacity building, and professional development opportunities.
2.    Content, Technology & Services — Developing appropriate products, pro-poor technologies, and services that telecentres can offer and put to use among communities.
3.    Community Learning — Supporting telecentre stakeholders with opportunities to share of ideas, experiences, and best practices through online and face to face programs.
4.    Networking — Helping multi-stakeholders to come together to find their roles in making telecentres more effective, sustainable, and valuable to the communities they serve.
5.    Research and Advocacy — Investigating how telecentres impact social and economic development with a view to advocate for conducive policies and programs of private and public sector entities

The late Prof. V. K. Samaranyake, founding director and pioneer and father of Sri Lankan Telecentre movement guided Telecenter.org to establish Telecentre.org Academy which he envisioned training and certifying Telecentre workers and managers worldwide.  After his untimely passing away in 2007, UCSC and Information and Communication Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) came together to form Telecentre.org Academy of Sri Lanka.  Sri Lankan academy was inaugurated by Prof. P.W Epasinghe, Chairman ICTA in February 2009 in the presence of 500 Nenasela operators becoming one of the 14 founding countries of Local Telecentre.org Academies.

In August 2009, Vice chancellors of 14 universities worldwide were gathered in New Delhi India and were hosted by Indira Gandhi Open University (IGNOU). Prof. Kshanika Hirburegama, Vice Chancellor of University of Colombo, Dr. Ruvan Weerasinghe, Director, UCSC, and Mr. Harsha Wijayawardhana of UCSC represented Sri Lanka where a letter of Intent was signed among the 14 universities to establish global Telecentre.org Academy at IGNOU. Subsequently, UCSC was selected to host and maintain eLearning Platform of the Academy. It is expected that eLearning Platform will serve between a million to two million students worldwide by the end of 2011. Sri Lankan academy under UCSC will facilitate creating on-line content with Learning Objects (LO) in 20 different languages which include Sinhala and Tamil.